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Facing dismal public approval polls ahead of the ’24 elections, the Biden administration faces mounting disfavor regarding its obviously failed Iran appeasement policies as Tehran funds Yemen-based Houthi rebel assaults on international Red Sea shipping along with Hezbollah missile and drone attacks on U.S. Iraqi and Syrian military bases, and brutal Hamas atrocities in Israel.
Whereas much recent U.S. press attention has been directed to Middle East region security threats posed by Hamas and Hezbollah proxies, the Yemini Houthis pose broader dangers through interference with crucial global commerce.
As reported in The Wall Street Journal, the well-armed Houthis may also represent an even more technically potent menace than other Iran proxies in that they are the only one possessing medium-range ballistic missiles and Iran radar-guided capabilities to target ships.
About 12% of the world’s seaborn trade occurs via the Red Sea, with conflict disruptions forcing shippers to delay deliveries from Asia to Europe by sailing around Southern Africa rather than routing through the Suez Canal.
As consequences, many of the world’s largest shipping lines, oil producers and other cargo owners are diverting vessels from the region, in turn hiking insurance rates and supply chain prices.
Although the Houthis’ Red Sea shipping attacks were originally represented as being in retaliation for Israel’s war in Gaza, the vessels targeted typically have little or in some cases no links to Israel.
Included is an attack on the Sai Baba, a tanker loaded with Russian crude oil pumped by Kremlin-connected Rosneft and destined for an Indian refinery.
According to the Pentagon, more than 100 drone and ballistic missile attacks so far have targeted at least 15 merchant vessels associated with more than 35 different nations causing BP, Hapag-Lloyd, CGM Group, and other major firms to stop sending ships through the Red Sea.
The Pentagon also reports that a merchant crew of 25 taken hostage on Nov. 19 is still “unjustly detained in Yemen.”
These brazenly aggressive Iran-supported occurrences have happened despite the presence of the U.S. Ford carrier strike group in the eastern Mediterranean and the Eisenhower strike group in the Gulf of Aden.
Such hostile actions wouldn’t be possible without monitoring and tactical intelligence assistance from Tehran including tracking information gathered by a Red Sea surveillance vessel controlled by Iran’s Quds Force, a branch of Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Republic Guard Corps, to attack ships passing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
Tehran is also known to have provided drones and missiles Houthis have launched toward Israel and at least one Red Sea vessel.
Recently declassified U.S. intelligence information states that on Oct. 19 the Houthis launched 29 Iran-designed drones from Yemen and at least three land-attack cruise missiles, with another Nov. 27 attack against a commercial tanker using the same kinds of missiles.
Let’s remember that this is the same Houthis faction that former President Donald Trump had designated a terrorist organization, an apt distinction that President Biden removed upon taking office.
And whereas current White House officials may attempt to dismiss Houthis as a “wild card” independent of Iran influence, they must also take some responsibility for release of Trump’s sanctioned funds now used to help finance the attacks.
Although the Biden administration ultimately blocked a release of $6 billion in Tehran prisoner exchange ransom money under pressure from six Senate Democrats up for reelection in competitive states, on Dec. 19 the State Department reissued a revenue waiver that gives Iran access to more than $10 billion for electricity shipments to Iraq.
Whereas that waiver was part of a unwritten agreement that the administration secretly slipped into the “Iran nuclear deal” which would never have passed Congress, Tehran, as reported by Reuters, has already processed enough weapons-grade uranium to produce three nuclear bombs.
Having described the Red Sea attacks on commercial shipping as an international matter to politically dissociate them from Gaza and other Iran-supported conflicts, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has announced creation of a 10-member multinational maritime task force – “Operation Prosperity Guardian” to respond.
The relatively defenseless political showcase coalition includes the Netherlands, Spain and Canada, with Bahrain currently the only Middle East country participating.
Biden administration foreign policy setbacks in Afghanistan, Ukraine and the Middle East have displayed weakness of leadership and strategy to America’s allies and adversaries alike.
All sense that President Biden wants above all to avoid escalating conflicts in an election year.
As pointed out by retired U.S. Navy Captain Jerry Hendrix, a senior fellow at the Sagamore Institute, “The world can see this, which might explain Iran’s boldness in the face of U.S. naval patrols.”
To be clear, no one should wish for an escalation of conflicts … not in any year.
Nevertheless, the solution should never be to avoid this through weak appeasements in circumstances that give bullies lasting advantages.
Allowing Tehran-backed Houthis to terrorize and control a critical world shipping lane is just such an unacceptable example, one that will further disrupt Middle East peace prospects and embolden Chinese military ambitions in Taiwan, the South China Sea and Pacific, including the Philippines.
And yes, elections truly do matter … none more so than the one now less than a year away.
(The previous does not represent an endorsement of a candidate or political party on the part of Newsmax.)
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is “Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design” (2022). Read Larry Bell’s Reports — More Here.